OntheWilderSide

From Kimberly:

I am a non-voting member of the Green Party of the United States Diversity Committee. (I like to refer to it as the GP-US DivCom.)

The DivCom has been on low energy for a couple of years. We kind of got wiped out during the struggle of including some new caucuses. Though, we still plug away and try to get things done.

A very dramatic event happened. On a recent GP-US Steering Committee (executive committee) call, it was suggested that they might disband the GP-US Diversity Committee. I think that would be a huge mistake.

In trying to keep the ball rolling, and things moving forward, I am inviting people of diversity to join this important committee. Any green can become a member by just having a delegate or officer in his/her state approve them. In addition to these non-voting members who get on just by asking, there are also 3 slots per state for voting members to the committee. If you are interested, contact the officers through e-mail, or through the list-serve at: gpusdiversity-subscribe at yahoogroups dot com.

I am also a member of the Disability Caucus. If we can get just a few more people, we will have enough members to apply for accreditation. If you are a green with a disability, and would like to work on disability rights, please send a message to: disabledgreens-subscribe at yahoogroups dot com to start the process of applying.

One more plug is for the Black Caucus. I admire so many of the activists there, and they have a great web-site at: http://gpblackcaucus.blogspot.com

History and Status of the GP-US Diversity Committee

Excerpt from the proposal which created the Green Party of the United States Diversity Committee (NC/CC proposal #45):

“As a key value in Green philosophy, Respect for Diversity is fundamental to Green politics; in an increasingly diverse United States, our strong commitment to diversity is also an important political statement. For these reasons diversity must be respected and demonstrated throughout all the policies, structures, and actions of the Green Party. As a standing committee of the CC the Diversity Committee will serve, in conjunction with the caucuses, as the primary advocate for traditionally disenfranchised communities.”

The GP-US Diversity Committee was approved, and our by-laws passed, by the NC in July 2003, with NC proposal #45. The proposal notes that the Diversity Committee actually dates back to the ASGP in 1999, but that we wanted to reorganize and clarify our position as part of the GP-US.

Our current GP-US Diversity Committee list-serve has provided a network of communication since July 2000.

Our GP-US Diversity Committee discussion list-serve includes voting members and non-voting members who share important work here, share information, and consider ourselves a committee.

Our committee was tasked with giving out diversity waiver/scholarships for Annual National Meetings in May of 2004.

In 2005, our committee sponsored the resolution and led a “Presentation on White Privilege” at the Annual National Meeting in Tulsa. See NC proposal #147.

Last year, at the July 2007 meeting in Reading, another very successful Dismantling Racism workshop was held. While this committee did not directly do the work, we used our list-serve and network to support that effort. Many of our members donated to an participated in the workshop.

Filed under: Green Party Websites, third party, US Politics Tagged: | Black Caucus, Disability Caucus, Diversity, third parties